Forgotten Lands Campaign of the Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC)

A look at three of the current FMC projects....

The FMC or Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand is an umbrella organisation which advocates for outdoor users in New Zealand. They consist of almost every tramping club as well as the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association (NZDA) and various other fishing, MTB, 4 W/D, walking, kayaking, caving and canyoning groups. 

Logo of the Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC)

The FMC also have over 30 000 individual members (...including Jon...) so they really are the voice of the outdoor community here in Kiwiland. I thought it might be useful to look at three of the most exciting and interesting of the projects the FMC is currently working on. All of these projects are centered around the huge areas of land controlled by DOC but which are undesignated at this time.

What to do with Stewardship Land?

When the Department of Conservation was set up in 1987 most of the land managed by the Crown was placed under their control. Much of the land had been previously designated as National Parks, Forest Parks, Scenic Reserves and Conservation Areas but there was also a lot of land with no legal standing. These areas with lesser/no control are known as Stewardship Land. 

The land surrounding Lake Kaniere is all Stewardship Land

This Stewardship Land was meant to be designated as something else within 10 years of the establishment of DOC but there has been little political will to do so. A lot of this land has resources like water, timber or minerals on it which various enterprises would like to exploit. Designating it would also cost the country as DOC would require additional resources to manage it. 

Around 33% of the DOC estate is Stewardship Land

The FMC has turned a focus on these 'Forgotten Lands' as demands to use them have increased over the years. There have been several large mines built on Stewardship Land as well as over 15 proposals to build new hydro/irrigation dams, new roads and requests to exploit virgin forests for timber. 

An FMC Forgotten Lands poster.....

One of the assumed roles of the FMC is advocacy for this land so they have a number of ongoing projects to have the land legally protected under the overall umbrella of the Forgotten Lands Campaign. This campaign is meant to bring public attention onto these areas and hopefully to kick start some sort of process for designating them. 

Three current FMC projects:

Here are three of the current projects being pursued by the FMC. These are the recognition of new Wilderness Areas, the proposed Remarkable National Park and proposed Wild Rivers Park.

Recognition of Wilderness Areas:

The FMC has a long term project to campaign for more Wilderness Areas around the country. A Wilderness Area is a special type of backcountry experience...it will be remote from civilisation and will have zero to very minimal human impact on it. There will be no huts, bridges, tracks or roads and access by vehicle or aircraft is generally prohibited. These are meant as true wilderness places where outdoor explorers can meet nature very much on its terms.

Tasman Wilderness Area lies to the south of the Heaphy Track

There are several existent Wilderness Areas around the country with good examples being the Olivine Wilderness in Fiordland and the Tasman Wilderness Area in Kahurangi NP. Some of these have been in existence since the 1970's while others are more recent. FMC and a number of other organisation's would like to increase the number of Wilderness Areas around the country including in some Stewardship Land areas.

Map of the Olivine Wilderness area in Fiordland

There are a number of suggestions for new areas...in the Kaimanawa-Kaweka Forests, Garvie Range in Central Otago, Preservation/Waitutu in Fiordland and Pegasus in the south of Rakiura/Stewart Island. The only one which currently has traction is Pegasus/Southern Wilderness Area as it is easily the most remote place in New Zealand with no habitation, tracks or hut network at all. It was supposed to be gazetted as a Wilderness Area in 2015...this has still not happened but the process is ongoing. 

View south from the Tin Range, Rakiura/Stewart Island

The Garvie Range is likely to become a part of the proposed Remarkable National Park while both the Kaimanawa/Kaweka and Waitutu proposals have faced criticism from some groups who would still like to be able to fly into these areas. They may all eventually become Wilderness Areas but for the moment they are stuck in limbo. 

There are many seldom visited areas in the Kaimanawa Ranges....

 

We still need truly wild places to escape from the stresses and strife of modern life. The FMC will continue to advocate for Wilderness Areas going forward as they are a very special and necessary part of the backcountry experience. 

Remarkable's National Park:

The FMC in conjunction with various other groups are advocating for the creation of a new National Park in the Remarkable Range just outside Queenstown. The proposed Remarkables National Park would encompass more than just the Remarkable Range and would also take in the Garvie, Hector, Old Man, Old Woman and areas of the Eyre Mountain Ranges. This is an area of great scenic, cultural and environmental value which currently has little to no protection. 

The Remarkable Range, Central Otago

The area is currently administered by DOC but largely has limited official designation so it is vulnerable to exploitation for farming, ski fields, forestry and mineral mining. What the FMC would like is to make it a National Park therefore protecting it for the future. It would be a great compliment to other local National Parks such as Aoraki/Mt Cook, Mt Aspiring and Fiordland NP. 

Rock formation in the Garvie Range, Central Otago

There is a lot of support for developing a National Park in the area with the Department of Conservation, local MP's, Lakes District Council and Queenstown Council all advocating for it. They are currently working on a proposal to be forwarded to the Government at which point is can be considered by a working party who will decide if the idea has merit. A National Park requires an Act of Parliament to go ahead so that is ultimately where this project is heading. 

Lake Wakatipu from the Hector Mountains

I can actually see this project succeeding...all of the interest parties like the idea and will apply pressure on successive governments for it to go ahead. We have not gazetted a new National Park in New Zealand since Rakuira back in the 1990's and this is an area which clearly could do with protection. It takes a long time to get a new park approved but at least it is moving along at pace and in the right direction. 

Tussocklands atop the Old Man Range, Central Otago

I hope this one succeeds as the opportunities for outdoor adventures would be immense...

Wild Rivers Park:

There is a mass of DOC land between Paparoa NP and Fiordland NP which has no official designation at all. This Stewardship Land was supposed to have been designated a long time ago but successive governments since the 1980's have lacked the will, interest or motivation to do anything about it. It contains some of the finest un-blemished wild rivers and rugged backcountry areas in the country and is very vulnerable at this time.

There are large tracts of Stewardship Land on the West Coast

The main dangers are from unrestricted mining and the development of hydro electric dams in this area. The West Coast of the South Island is rich in timber and minerals including coal, iron sands, oil, gold and trace elements. All of these have potential markets overseas so there is great interest in exploiting them.

Stockton Open Cast Mine is on Stewardship Land on the West Coast

 The area is also rich in large river catchments which make ideal locations for hydro electric schemes. There are corporations and groups who want to exploit these resources regardless of the ecological and environmental value of the land. 

Arahura River, West Coast of the South Island

A group of interested parties including DOC, the local Regional Councils and the FMC are proposing a new park to protect these areas. Wild Rivers Park would encompass land from the Otira/Taramakau Rivers south to near Haast and would contain many of the iconic West Coast catchments including the Styx/Arahura/Hokitika/Toroha/Whitcombe/Waitaha/Wanganui/Copland/Karangahua/Landsborough and the Haast. 

Hokitika Gorge would be part of the Wild Rivers Park...

The Kokatahi River is also in the proposed Wild Rivers Park

It would also give greater protection to the inland lakes along the coast and some of the lowland swamp forests around the mountain fringes. Many of these are already scenic reserves which have less protected status than a Forest Park or National Park. It would achieve the long term goal of a contiguous protected land corridor all the way from Kahurangi in the north right down to Fiordland and Rakuira/Stewart Island.

 

Lake Kaniere would be in Wild Rivers Park

It is a bold and exciting project but there is serious opposition from many vested interest groups so while I ultimately think this proposal will go ahead I don't see it happening in the near future. What may happen is that parcels of land and river valleys will be added to existing National Parks, Forest Parks and Scenic Reserves. These areas really need protection as there are constant demands to use these rivers and they need to be protected before they are degraded.  

How to find Stewardship Land details....

So there are three of the projects the FMC is working on...there are many more but this is a good representation of the work they do. You should consider how you can help to achieve these worthwhile projects...become an individual member of the FMC or donate time, expertise or money to help them protect our natural treasures. 

Update May 2022: 

A group of interested people including DOC, local Iwi, land owners, regional councils and businesses are currently reviewing the status of Stewardship lands in the South Island. They are expected to release some findings by the end of 2022 with movement to re-classify some/all of the land before the end of 2023. 

Nomenclature of huts in New Zealand

 Know the descriptive language of backcountry huts...

Serviced, standard, bivy or lodge...backcountry huts in New Zealand have a language of their own. It can sometimes be confusing to the new hut user or international visitor to decipher what people are talking about when it comes to huts. 

Hut, bivouac or shelter...which is it?

I thought we could have a look at the nomenclature (the name or designation) used to describe our backcountry retreats in this country. 

The different type of huts:

There are several different types of huts in the New Zealand backcountry most of which correspond to the terminology used by the department of conservation. Both DOC, outdoor user groups, government departments and individuals have taken to using the official designation when talking about a hut. These generally relate to the use the building is intended for, its size, level of amenity and ownership. 

Lets have a look a these designations...

Lodges:

These are the crème of the crop of backcountry structures and are usually intended for well heeled patrons willing to pay a higher price for a greater level of comfort. They will have the most comfortable features and might even include things like a la carte meals, showers, beds with linen and alcohol service. 

Glade House, Milford Track, Fiordland

You will tend to find lodges on very popular tracks as they need mass tourism to make economic sense. I have seen them on the Milford, Greenstone, Routeburn and Abel Tasman Tracks although I have never sampled their wares myself. They are also common near park entrances (Aoraki/Mt Cook Village, National Park/Arthurs Pass) and at ski fields. 

Quinton Lodge (40 bunks) Milford Track, Fiordland

The term 'Lodge' can be used in derision by some outdoor folk commenting on the overbuilt nature of some of the newer DOC huts like Pinnacles (80+ bunks!!!!)  in the Coromandel Peninsula. Personally I don't see why you need to 'rough it' all the time to be considered a real tramper...

Huts: Backcountry staple...

Your basic backcountry hut will generally be a 3-60+ person building intended for over night stays. It will usually have sleeping facilities and a living/cooking area and a veranda depending on size and age. There may be additional amenities like mud rooms, gas heaters, wood burners, water tanks, gas cookers etc. and most will have a handy river or rain tanks for water.  

12 bunk Speargrass Hut in Nelson Lakes NP

There are over 1200 public and private huts scattered around New Zealand and there would not be a district in the whole country that does not have a few. 

Woolshed Creek hut (24 bunks)...Hakatere Conservation area

There are more huts in the South Island than the North Island and the regions with the most huts are the Kawekas, Tararua Forest Park and right down the West Coast of the South Island. These huts were mostly built for government deer stalkers which is why so many are in these places as they all had high deer numbers. 

Bivouacs:

Bivouacs, biv's, bivvy's...different names for the same type of structure. They tend to be mini huts...smaller and with sometimes with less facilities. They range in size from tiny two person "dog box" structures up to small huts that hold 3-4 people. 

Hallelujah Bivouac...classic deer cullers shelter

They are generally located in more remote locations and are usually a hold over from the days when they were used by government deer stalkers (1940-1987). That said they are growing in numbers as they are cheaper and easier to build in our modern world of out of control building costs. 

Caroline Creek Bivouac (2 bunks) on the Waiau Pass Track

There are some damn fancy bivouacs out there like East Hawdon shown below and there are some real horrors but what all of them provide is basic shelter from the elements. 

East Hawdon Bivouac, Arthurs Pass NP...fancy digs!!!

If you are wet, cold and exhausted that is all you need...a roof over your head, a bed to sleep in and if you are lucky a fire to warm yourself with. 

Shelters:

There are many kinds of backcountry shelter mainly intended for day use or as a place of refuge on long and difficult tracks. I have visited almost as many shelters as huts over the years and you tend to find them at the start/finish of a track, on long track sections, campsites, ski fields, walking tracks and after long or difficult climbs/descents.

Andrews Shelter, Mt White Road, Arthurs Pass NP

The amenities in a shelter vary with its intended use so as basic as an open sided bare space with a dirt floor to fully enclosed structures with seating, benches, tables, cooking facilities, water and even fireboxes.

Maori Beach Shelter, Rakuira

 DOC have started building cooking shelters on a number of tracks with benches, tables and water for those who prefer a night under nylon. These make preparing food, eating and socialising with fellow trampers so much easier. 

Brod Bay Shelter, Kepler Track

There is no finer sight on a cold, wet day than a shelter to sit and eat your lunch in...wet lunch breaks are the bane of all trampers.

DOC hut descriptions:

The Department of Conservation have their own hut grading system as a means to describe the amenities each building contains. They also use the designations as a price point when deciding how much to charge for an overnight stay in that hut. These gradings are: Great Walk/Serviced/Standard/Basic

Great Walk:

Great Walk Huts have better amenities than other huts and are specific to the 10 Great Walks of New Zealand. They will have a bookable bunk for each visitor, tank water, heating with fuel provided, gas cookers, and a hut warden during the summer months. 

Moonlight Tops Hut, Paparoa Great Walk Track, Paparoa NP

Some Great Walk huts deserve the moniker but to be frank some of them are bloody awful...generally the older more remote huts are the least comfortable. The oldest huts are on the North Island Great Walks...the Tongariro Northern Circuit and Lake Waikaremoana. 

Bark Bay Hut in the Abel Tasman NP..my favorite GW hut!

Great Walks are all about volume...they normally cater for the vast tourist hordes on their conveyer belt like tracks. Because of this the huts tend to be bigger than on other tracks with more bunks and more living space. The largest GW huts are 50+ people like Luxmore on the Kepler Track or Mintaro on the Milford. The smallest GW huts are more like 20-30 people...

Luxmore Hut on the Kepler Track holds 55 people....

...while Porarairi Hut only holds 20!!!

Great Walk huts are also expensive..$30-$75 for Kiwis and $60-$150 for International visitors. If you are going to charge this much I expect to be tucked in at night, a cooked breakfast and a cuppa in bed in the morning...

Serviced:

Serviced huts are next down the list and will generally have most of the features of a Great Walk Hut but tend to be slightly older and smaller. They will generally hold from 10-30 people though Pinnacles Hut in the Coromandel is a 80 bunk serviced hut...

Speargrass Hut in Nelson Lakes NP

Crow Hut in Arthurs Pass NP

 Some of them have hut wardens and some of them can be booked but most are first come-first served. When you arrive you take a spare bunk if it is available...if the hut is full you will be sleeping on the hut floor or outside in the tent you should be carrying...

Casey Hut II (2021) is the newest Serviced hut in New Zealand...

 They are cheaper to stay in at $15-$20 per night and you can use a DOC Backcountry hut pass at most of these ones. 

Sabine Hut, Travers-Sabine Track, Nelson Lakes NP

You are going to strike Serviced huts on the more popular multi day tracks  like the Te Paki Track, Round the Mountain, Greenstone-Caples, Rees-Dart, Travers-Sabine Circuit, St James Walkway, Hollyford which exist outside the Great Walk network. 

Standard:

The most numerous hut group these have slightly reduced amenity levels and will tend to be smaller (6-12 bunks) in less visited areas. They usually have no firewood ( you need to find your own locally) or gas supplied for heating and water may be from a tank but more often from a nearby stream or river. 

Lower Princhester Hut, Takitimu Forest Park

No wardens or hut booking at any of these with the most common design being the classic New Zealand Forestry Service NZSF70 six bunk hut from the 1960's and 1970's. 

Anti Crow Hut, Arthurs Pass NP is a modified NZFS70...

.

Trust-Poulter Hut, Arthurs Pass NP...another modified NZFS70

There are lots of standard huts in places like Fiordland NP, the West Coast, Tararuas, Kaweka's, Kaimaniwas, Kahurangi and Rakuira/Stewart Island.

Basic:

All the rest really...bivouacs, small 1-4 person huts, old musterer's huts, tent camps and anything over 60 years of age. They will tend to be older, dirtier and more ramshackle but they still do the business when required. 

West Harper Hut...open fireplace, dirt floors and sacking bunks!!!

Rokeby Hut on the St James Walkway

The upside of staying in a Basic hut is that DOC don't charge you for staying so if you are a budget conscious person look for this type of hut. This category also includes shelters even though you are not meant to sleep in them overnight...obviously use of a shelter is free.

Cobb Valley Tent Camp, Kahurangi NP...a Basic hut

Cobb Hut is another basic hut in Kahurangi NP...

I love basic huts as this is getting back to the most basic level of existence without living under nylon.  

Historic huts:

There is really another designation for DOC huts called Historic but it is not a separate category as most historic huts are not able to be used for overnight stays. They are being preserved for their historic value as they are very old, are the last of their kind, were the only hut in that area or have some other historical importance to the nation. 

Historic Jacks Hut in Arthurs Pass NP...

Lake Emma Hut, Hakatere Conservation Area is a historic station hut

There are a couple of notable historic huts that can be used for overnight stays including many in the Tararua Forest Park, Schutes Hut in the North Island and Myttons/Chaffeys Hut's in the Cobb Valley. There are many more but these are just a few examples... 

Chaffey's Hut (Cobb Valley) is a slab clad historic hut...

You can stay overnight in Bealey Spur/Top Hut (1905)...

Historic huts are scattered right across the country but a lot of them are located in the South Island as many were originally homesteads or old mustering huts. Many of these huts came into Crown ownership with land tenure reviews and generally DOC will only do vital restoration and maintenance work to keep them in existence. 

How huts are named:

I am not going to go too deep into how a hut gets its name because it is actually complicated enough for its own post. Naming of a new backcountry feature or structure is controlled...you may nominate a name for geographic features through LINZ. 

Mid Robinson Hut as shown on a LINZ 1/250 000 topo map....

As they are ultimately going to appear on the New Zealand topographic map series there are some basic tenets that must be followed:

No public hut to be named after a living person/entity 

Must be a unique name...not one in current use

No abusive/derogatory/objectionable names to be used

Final naming of huts is overseen by the New Zealand Geographical Board

In basic terms huts tend to be named after nearby geographic features like a hill, river, island, stream or track. This is a long standing and world wide practice as it is the most obvious way to make locating that feature easy. Examples would be Broken River Hut, Waitaki Forks Hut, Hellfire Pass Hut, Shallow Bay Hut and East Hawdon Bivouac. 

Shallow Bay Hut is in Shallow Bay, Lake Manapouri

Other huts will be named after some person of importance like a local explorer, DOC/NZFS ranger, historic run owner, land surveyor, naturalist and well known trampers. Leaders of tramping clubs seem popular as many of the original huts were built by tramping clubs and it was a means to remember great tramping companions. Examples are the Ces Clark Hut, Charlie Douglass Rock Bivouac, Field Hut, Carrington Hut and John Reid Hut.

John Tait Hut is named after a beloved NZFS Ranger...

There are a LOT of memorial huts named after people who died in some locale..often built as a hut in that location would have saved the person. Some of the stories behind memorial huts are very tragic with people lost in storms, drowned in rivers (...the New Zealand death...) or who disappeared never to be seen again. A good example is Fenella Hut named after Fenella Druce who died when Three Johns Hut (itself a memorial to dead climbers...) was blown off a ridge in Aoraki/Mt Cook NP. She and her three companions all perished. Her friends and family built Fenella Hut as a memorial to her memory...

Fenella Hut, Cobb Valley, Kahurangi NP

There are over 10 memorial huts in the Tararua's and I can think of five here in Canterbury which commemorate lost souls. A good example is the Manson-Nicholls Hut at Lake Daniell named after three trampers who died when the hut they were in was hit by a huge landslide in mid 1976. 

 

The old Manson-Nichols Hut at Lake Daniell

Another is Park-Morpeth named after two drowned trampers who were swept away while crossing a nearby river back in the 1930's.

Rebuilds and renovations:

You will often find that a hut or bivouac has been built in a nearly perfect spot somewhere so that if that structure needs to be replaced or rebuilt it will always be located in the same spot. This leads to a bit of confusion when people are talking about that hut and various ways have been adopted to describe which iteration of that hut you are talking about. 

This is Casey Hut (1976)....

...and this is Casey Hut (2021)!!!

If it is the first or second hut at that location you can refer to them as old or new i.e the old Manson-Nichols Hut or the new Manson-Nichols Hut. A common practice today is to add a Maori name as well so the new Manson-Nichols Hut is actually Kohanga Atawai/Manson-Nichols Hut. Something I do is to add the year it was built to the description i.e. (2020) or (1957)....

The new Kohanga Atawai/Manson-Nichols Hut (2020)....

The most widely used process is to refer to a hut using Roman numerals after the name. Thus we have Mueller Hut but also Mueller I, Mueller II...right up to the current Mueller V Hut. There are a lot of huts like this scattered right across the country and using the Roman numeral just makes it easier to talk about an individual hut so that everyone knows which one you are talking about. 

Mueller Hut (V)...the fifth hut in this general location

The newest rebuild and newest DOC Hut...Mintaro III (March 2021)...

Of course they don't teach Roman numerals in schools anymore so eventually we are going to need a new method.....when all us olde folk is gone what's understand it...